Big Brother Is Watching, And He Pays Really Well

Law360, New York (March 30, 2011, 1:08 PM EDT) -- A reinvigorated U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled a whistleblower bounty program. The SEC’s proposed rules under the new Dodd-Frank legislation call for rewards to be paid by the SEC to individuals who voluntarily provide the SEC with original information that leads to a successful enforcement action.

An SEC whistleblower can now stake claim to a bounty of 10 to 30 percent of monetary penalties over $1 million. To illustrate, had a whistleblower made a claim on the recent Goldman Sachs settlement, he would have...